Did LA Says Yes To The Olympics Too Fast?

Did the International Olympic Committee play the head of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Committee Casey Wasserman and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for fools by quickly granting Los Angeles the 2028 Summer Olympics and not offering them a better deal? The IOC is trying to help Sion, Switzerland land the 2026 Winter Olympics by waiving financial rules and allowing the local Olympic bidder to pay less than say Los Angeles or Paris for cost overruns in holding the two week sports event. Los Angeles is putting up a quarter of a billion dollars to help cover financial losses and the state of California is kicking in another quarter of a billion dollars. The American government will be providing security at the 2028 event and 11 years out, there is no way of knowing just how much money that will cost. In 2002, America had more boots on the ground protecting the Salt Lake City Olympics than in Afghanistan.

Sion poses a major problem for the IOC. The group’s headquarters is in Switzerland. Voters in other parts of Switzerland have said no to the 2022 Winter Games and earlier this year St. Moritz voters said no to a 2026 Winter Games. Sion voters will head to the polls on June 10, 2018 to decide whether they want to host the games. Innsbruck, Austria bidders folded after voters said no to the 2026 Olympics. There is some thought that Salt Lake City or the Reno-Lake Tahoe area might go after the 2026 Games, Calgary bidders are trying to figure out whether government money will be available to them if they try to get the 2026 event. Sapporo, Japan also could make a bid but with all the financial problems with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and a leaking nuclear power plant, the public may not support a bid. It is all about money.

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